Soil costs are incurred when soil is lost through wind and water erosion. Poorly managed soils are significantly more prone to this form of erosion. When soil is eroded you actually lose your production resources, so it's a loss of production capital. Your land will produce less and continue to produce less. In addition, there are costs related to degradation of the soil. When soils are healthy and full of soil life, they boost the natural pest and disease resistance of crops. When soils lose this quality, pests and diseases multiply, causing a lot of additional management cost for the farmer and eventually serious production losses. There are worse and less obvious costs too. An example: In 2011 an enormous sandstorm hit northern Germany and caused a motorway crash involving 80 cars and killing 8 people. The sandstorm was a result of wind erosion on farmland as a result of industrial farming and bad soil management.
